


Maria Salvatore

by Eklgawi



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-22 15:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30040488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eklgawi/pseuds/Eklgawi
Summary: Present day - The older sister of Damon and Stefan returns to Mystic Falls to find her brothers have found the Petrova doppelgänger. Set in Season 1, and diverges from cannon from the first episode. Mostly fluff.1864 - Damon and Stefan get turned, but their sister helps them. Stefan doesn't become a ripper (although he does struggle with the blood urges more than anyone else). Stefan doesn't kill Giuseppe.
Relationships: Damon Salvatore/Original Female Character(s), Elena Gilbert/Stefan Salvatore, Lexi Branson/Stefan Salvatore, Stefan Salvatore/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	1. Returning home - 2009

**Author's Note:**

> Maria returns to Mystic Falls (present day). Stefan joins the football team.

“Thank you for telling me this,” Damon leaned forward to shake Mr Tanner’s hand. “I, of course consent to Stefan playing in the team and will not trouble the school if he gets injured. But don’t worry, my brother very rarely gets injured. He once fell off the roof of the boarding house and didn’t get hurt. Not even a lasting scar.” Damon reassured the teacher with a quick smile, remembering how he pushed Stefan off the roof of the boarding house. He stood up to leave, but as he did, his mobile phone began to ring. “I’ll get these documents back to you, don’t worry. Sorry, lovely to meet you, but I really must take this.”

Damon walked out of Tanner's office, cursing the modern obsession with paperwork and frantically digging his phone out of his pocket.

“Damon,” the caller spoke. “Care to explain the messages? How urgent is the situation – I've just finished remodelling my London flat and I’d like to enjoy it. Actually, why don't you come over? Its a short flight and I'm sure that Stefan must be bored of planning teenager by now.” 

He paused his walk down the school hallway, peering into one of the classrooms. He shook his head, why was Stefan so insistent in going to school?

He finally spoke into the phone, “as much as I’d love to come visit you right now, there’s someone you should meet. Come at your earliest convenience. I’ll take the dust sheets off your furniture.”

"Fine, although you owe me a round of drinks in LA. I'm not relying off the crap that they sell in that damn town." 

She hung up, just as Tanner was about to walk down the hallway. Damon shoved his phone into his jeans and put his best concerned face on and called out to him: “sorry, but do you know where my brother is? I’m afraid it’s urgent.” 

Tanner nodded his head. “Yeah,” he drawled out. “I’m late to the lesson he's in – come with me.”

They walked down the corridor, awkwardly listening to the scuffing of their shoes on the lino. Tanner swung the door open into the classroom, silencing the class. 

“Salvatore,” he said, putting his books down on the desk. “Your brother wants a word.” 

Damon stood in the doorway and jerked his head into the hallway. Stefan walked out the door, trying to conceal his surprise at his brother's appearance. Tanner started his lesson, his voice creating a pleasant background whine. 

Stefan leaned against one of the lockers, and raised his eyebrows in question. “Well?” 

“Well,” Damon drew out. Sighing loudly. “I’ve used my guardianship in order to give you permission to attend football practise and taken a quick trip to the library to swap a few records around. Oh, and I have a surprise for you. Don’t worry," he assured Stefan, clapping his shoulder and giving a genuine smile. "Its all good. I’ll get you some bunny on my way back for an after school snack - we need to talk.” 

Stefan nodded and walked back into class, as Tanner was assigning them their homework on the impact of the civil war on Mystic Falls. As he sat back down, Elena leaned over to him, “What was that about?” 

"I'll tell you later," he whispered back in reply, too occupied with what his 'surprise' was. 

At the end of the school day, Stefan and Elena bumped into each other outside their lockers. "I didn't know that you had a brother?" She tried to casually bring up, remembering how he had said that he didn't talk to his siblings. 

"Yeah," he muttered non-commitantly. "We have a bit of a complicated relationship. The last time I saw him, he said that he never wanted to see me again." He looked away for a moment and closed his locker's door. "But that was a long time ago," he tried to reassure her. "He must have arrived after I left for school this morning. He said that we need to talk, which I guess is true, I mean well, we've not talked since we spent a summer backpacking through Yosemite." 

He name-dropped, praying that she'd get distracted and not ask him any more - the last time he'd seen Damon or Maria together was the 1990, and they had hired a van and driven through California. He could remember the final argument, and leaving, though he couldn't really remember much of the years after that - having blacked out many times, until Maria had called Lexi and told him to get his shit together.

Of course, Elena was completely taken back and immediately asked him all about the National Park, and what California was like. He kept going, telling her about the time that Damon had accidently left some of their uneaten meat out from their dinner (humans left un-compelled) and that they were attacked by a bear (Maria yelling at them).

He kept telling the story until they got to the car park, where she offered him a lift back to the boarding house where Zach lived as her aunt was picking her up. Stefan was about to decline, not really sure where he would be staying as Zach didn't get on well with Damon and he wanted to spend some time with his brother. 

"Nah," a voice called out for him. A girl, who looked the same age as Elena's aunt, leant against an expensive convertible and had sunglasses on her face, grinned and held her arms out for a hug. 

Stefan grinned and complied, hugging his sister for the first time in a decade. 

"So," she pulled away. "Do you like your surprise?"

He chuckled and gestured to Elena. "This is my sister, Maria. She was in Patagonia, the last time that I spoke to her. Maria, this is Elena Gilbert - my friend."

Maria smiled at Elena and gestured to her car, "I was thinking about getting a bite. Would you happen to know where the best places to go are Elena? Perhaps you can accompany me and Stefan for a coffee. I'd love to get to know Stefan's friends better. If not, I'll drop you home? My place is just outside of town, so its not too far."

Elena nodded, they all climbed into Maria's car and drove into town in a comfortable silence. 

As they sat down to eat in the Mystic Grill, Elena ordered for them, as Stefan and Maria were too busy catching up.

"... you were in Vancouver? Remember when we wrote a list of all the places that we wanted to go to?" Elena had never seen Stefan look so excited. 

"Yes! We made it just before I went to boarding school!" Maria was also excited, her brother finally resembling the human that she remembered. "You wanted to come with me to Atlanta, cause you didn't want to be left with Dad and Damon. Vancouver was fun, Lexi loved it. Didn't she mention it to you?"

Stefan shook his head, "nah, the last time I was with her was when I met up with you in Rio. You flew me out to your spa after I had some trouble in Detroit." 

Maria smiled with recognition, and lost herself in the memories of when her brother was in a dark place in the 90s, and she flew him out to her resort, which she ran with Lexi. Stefan and Lexi spent the rest of the decade lounging around and eating tropical fruits as she left to go and fight in the wars in Yugoslavia. "So, Elena, tell me about the town? Its been a while since I've been back and I doubt that Stefan's been back long enough to know what's happening. And tell me about yourself. I'm sure that you have some questions for me as well." 

Maria looked genuinely interested, and Elena couldn't stop herself from telling her, "Um, well. The Sheriff is Caroline's mum - Caroline Forbes, she's in Stefan and I's year in school. That's Mayor Lockwood sitting over there, with his wife; they have a son in our year at school as well. Where are you living? Because Stefan mentioned that Zach, your uncle owned the Salvatore boarding house, but that Damon also has a house in the town?"

The drinks arrived, and Maria began sipping on hers. "Thank you for telling me, I hate to arrive in a place and not know who's in charge. Well, as I am sure you know, I'm Stefan's older sister and me, and my younger brother Damon were left the custody of him by our parents. Damon is currently at the Salvatore estate, where we will stay in some of the cottages. The estate was left to us in our father's will, of cour-" 

"Of course, we couldn't bare to stay in our old house after the accident, despite not actually living in it since we were young. Besides, our parents thought that it would be best if we were kept away from other children, because our mother was so sick." Stefan interrupted his sister, not wanting to tell Elena conflicting lies. 

"So where have you been living since you left? You guys mentioned so many places it was hard to keep track." Elena still had so many questions that she couldn't wait to get out. 

"Well, we went pretty much everywhere, although those stories might have to wait for a different time, as we should really be getting you home Elena, I'm sure that your family will get annoyed with us, if we keep you away without explanation." Maria stood up, having drained her hot chocolate. "Stef, do you have any money? I don't have enough American dollars on me." She checked her purse, various currencies falling out and picked up a few 1 dollar bills. 

Stefan wordlessly footed the bill, Elena's eyes almost bulging at the sight of how much cash he had in his wallet, given that his sister's was also almost overflowing.


	2. Inside the Salvatore house - 2009

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Salvatore siblings talk and Maria has an interrupted visit. (2009).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: visiting a graveyard and discussing death.

2009:

When Stefan and Maria finally got back to the gatekeeper's cottage Damon had cleared out most of the cobwebs and had fixed the fridge to store blood. They crossed the threshold, a plume of dust rose from the carpet and settled on the walls. 

"Well I see that Zach took good care of the place. I said check up every once in a while, not every lifetime." Maria complained as she flopped on the flower printed sofa. Stefan sat beside her, not caring about how dirty the 70s furniture was. 

Damon appeared from the kitchen, and threw a blood bag at Maria and some deer's blood at Stefan. 

"I've raided the Hospital's supply, which should last us until the weekend, but we might need to go on a weekend fieldtrip to a bigger town to grab some more. I've also been to visit Zach - says that he's open to having a catch-up meal with the three us, but only if Maria comes.

When Stefan and Maria finally got back to the gatekeeper's cottage Damon had cleared out most of the cobwebs and had fixed the fridge to store blood. They crossed the threshold, a plume of dust rose from the carpet and settled on the walls. 

"Well I see that Zach took good care of the place. I said check up every once in a while, not every lifetime." Maria complained as she flopped on the flower printed sofa. Stefan sat beside her, not caring about how dirty the 70s furniture was. 

Damon appeared from the kitchen, and threw a blood bag at Maria and some deer's blood at Stefan. 

"I've raided the Hospital's supply, which should last us until the weekend, but we might need to go on a weekend fieldtrip to a bigger town to grab some more. I've also been to visit Zach - says that he's open to having a catch-up meal with the three us, but only if Maria comes.” He said, as he began to drink from the blood bag and looked out of the window. 

Stefan stood up and went to pour them all some bourbon. “Thanks, for doing all this.”

“Don’t worry about it Stef. Maria – do you need some more time or what do you want to do? Zach said that he was open to you taking a more leadership type role in the business. You can also help me clean the rest of this place up and try and make some friends in this town.” Damon reiterated his conversation with Zach, trying to get his silent sister to say something. 

She began to drink from the blood bag, “The lazy f*cker – he just doesn’t want to do any work, ‘would do open to me taking a more leadership role’ bullsh*t. I’ve been managing the business since I first set it up and he’s been living off the money its generated since birth. He might be George’s son, but he has inherited nothing of value.” Stefan handed her a glass and she drained it, putting it on the Victorian side table. “Yeah, I’m gonna take a few days off and visit a few people. The main house needs a through clean, I’ll get to that when I’m done. Stefan will continue going to school, either me or Damon will drive you each day until we can get you a car. I’m going to go visit a few old friends in the meantime. If you too could leave each other alone and clean the house – that’d be great.”

After draining the blood bag and the bourbon, Maria stood up and left the house, retrieving her car and walking out of the Veritas estate towards the town. She walked through the forests that she had paid to be planted, the mud ruining the bottom of her jeans.

Once she made it to the grave yard, Maria walked to her family’s crypt. She retrieved the key from her pocket and sunk it into the well oiled lock, the heavy iron gates swinging open and the silence welcoming in her in. She stepped in, leaving the door open as she sunk to her knees in front of their graves, her fingers trailing her son’s name that was engraved in the stone. 

As she began to compose herself, Elena stood on the threshold and blocked the sunlight out. “Hey, Maria – is everything ok?” She spoke, not sure what to ask. 

Maria rose, brushed her hair away from her face and smiled at Elena. “Elena, although I don’t think that anyone who habitually visits graveyards is ‘ok’ – everything in my life is about as best as it has ever been.”

She moved closer to Elena, and motioned to her to enter. 

“Would you like to ask? Don’t worry, everyone has a question about something,” Maria smiled faintly and reminded Elena of a healthcare professional who informed people with terminal diseases that they were going to die soon.

Elena was conflicted. She was curious about Stefan’s mysterious nature and his siblings’ random appearance. “Um, would it be ok? I wouldn’t want to pry.”

Maria shook her head and smiled, “not at all Elena, it was all a long time ago.”

Elena nodded, “so, um, what happened? With the people that are buried here?” She turned to look at her companion, but Maria was looking at the names that were carved into the stone, lost in her memories.

“It started with my father, Giuseppe. He was a horrible man, with opinions from the nineteenth century.” She said with a small smile. “It’s a long story Elena, shall I continue out of the crypt?” She gestured for Elena to step out, before following and locking the crypt behind her. “I’m not sure what Stefan has told you about our past as he’s a private person, but I’ll try and fill in the gaps as best as I can.”  
They turn and begin walking deeper into the graveyard, further towards Elena’s parents graves, keeping a brisk pace and allowing the earth to crunch beneath their footsteps. 

“We grew up in this town. Me, my brothers and my parents. We lived in the Veritas Estate, the one that’s rented out for weddings and events at the moment; our father, didn’t believe in mainstream education or even allowing us to interact with children, so we became very close with each other. Things were very boring when we were little and we found the weirdest ways to entertain each other. We had various tutors and an extensive library in which to educate ourselves from, don’t worry. We were happy, although our mother was sick for most of Stefan’s life. She fell sick soon after his birth and it was a long drawn out death that took from when I was 10 until I was 22. Stefan must have been about 12 when she died and it made quite the impression on him. My father died about 8 years after, although we had escaped him 2 years before that.”

“Damon, Stefan and I left Mystic Falls when Stefan must have been about 14 when we left. We moved around, living in random cities for a while. Damon and I kept up Stefan’s education, whilst the family business gave us enough money to continue to travel around the US.”

They came to a stop outside the graves of Johnathan and Miranda Gilbert. Maria regained her sad gaze and grasped Elena’s hand. 

“Talk to Stefan, Elena,” Maria spoke softly. “He understands the pain that you are feeling, more than any of us. I assure you – he will listen.”

The vampire squeezed Elena’s hand once more, before turning and leaving. Maria walked back the way that she had come, back into the crypt that Elena had found her in.


	3. Lake Louisa (1852)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria leaves Mystic Falls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about the American Civil war or American finishing schools. Apologises in advance.

1852:

A sixteen year old Maria was sat in the playroom, with her little brother Stefan. All around them the house was in chaos - all of the house was packing up Maria and their mother's belongings, as they was travelling to the lake house for Lily's health. Damon had been confined to his room for a week as punishment for speaking out against their father's support of slavery, and not allowed to see them leave. Maria, however, was still looking after Stefan whilst his Nanny was busy.

Maria was to attend a finishing school near the lake house whilst her mother would take the air and her condition would hopefully improve. Ever since giving birth to her third child Lily had been weak - unable to play a significant role in her children's lives as she was frequently confined to her bed. In the meantime, Maria was charged with many of the duties that the lady of the house would have, such as working closely with the housekeeper and making sure that her brother's received a proper education. Giuseppe had decided that Maria should learn how to be a young woman about to be married, instead of acting as her mother's carer, and was to spend the next 3 years learning how to do so at the boarding school. 

Maria would miss much of her brothers' childhood, as Stefan would be 9 years old and Damon 16, when she was meant to return. She was determined to spend as much time as possible with her brothers before she left, however fast approaching that hour might be. Over the summer, because they weren't allowed to leave the estate without an adult, she and Damon had been teaching Stefan how to ride ponies as well as catching the fish in the lake. And although Damon hadn't been allowed out with them in the last week, she would still sit outside his door and read to him. 

Despite Stefan's age, he was to begin to learn writing skills soon, working with their governess. Maria hoped, although she was not confident, that one day she would be able to receive and write letters to her youngest brother, although she knew that writing letters to Damon and asking them to be read out would have to suffice. In the mean time, Maria settled with trying to teach Stefan as much as she could about her love for poetry, history and the nature around their estate. 

She knew that Damon would get her letters and that she could rely on him to keep her room in order. They had 'adopted' some kittens and were attempting to keep them alive under the barn. Now, he would have to go out and make sure that they were fed and warm himself, as well as sending her weekly updates. 

At last, they were ready to go. Lily, having already said her goodbyes to her sons and husband, was already waiting in the second best carriage. Maria rushed out of the house, lifting up her heavy skirts as she ran down the stairs. She kissed her father's cheek, waved to Damon's window and twirled Stefan around in the air one last time, before clambering up into the carriage with a whirl of her petticoat. As they drove down the driveway, her head was stuck out of the window, catching one last glimpse of her home. 

The journey was long, although thankfully it was one that they made fairly frequently, once every few years or so and Maria was glad for the sense of familiarity, as she was nervous about having to start school, having never attended any form of strict education. As the fields rolled past, Maria was glad that she had had the sense to pack her favourite novels in the bag that she took into the carriage, as her mother fell asleep immediately. Although, Maria herself found herself getting rocked to sleep as well, letting the comforting rhyme of the carriage lull her into a different world. 

It took them a few days of journeying by carriage to reach the town of Louisa. Their lakeside house gave Maria, Lily and a small group of family servants space to live comfortably, although Maria would be spending much of her time at the school, and didn't bother to unpack many of her belongings. Instead, she went to the window, sat in the chair and gazed down at the peaceful lake below her. The water rippled to the shoreline and there was a girl, who appeared to be around Maria's own age on the other side of the lake. There was a path for the public, whilst the rest of the lake was owned by the families who had houses there. 

As much as Maria wanted to leave the house, and reacquaint herself with her surroundings, she had to unpack her mother's belongings, as Lily had retired to her bedroom. It was after dark when she had finished, so she went to bed early, in order to prepare for the next day when she would be joining her new school. 

Although Maria could not be certain about her future, she hoped that her father would allow her to stay in the school long enough to make friends of her own, instead of her brothers. Damon was occasionally allowed to leave the estate and hunt with the other boys from the founding families in the town, like George Lockwood and William Gilbert, whereas Maria had been confined to the estate most of her life, only permitted to leave with the watchful eye of their governess or Damon or Giuseppe himself. Even then, she would rarely be allowed to talk to the other townsfolk, especially as she only knew the founding families, and was forbidden from even acknowledging that there were other people who lived in the town. Her father had acted like this for most of her life, even the rare balls and dinners that she attended, Maria was kept under a tight rein with someone always ready to politely inform her that she was feeling tired and must go to bed. 

Now, however, Maria was facing a new freedom. One that she was wholly unprepared for. She did not know how other girls conversed, nor how she was meant to do with her newfound freedom. Her mother was too ill to worry about what she got up to all day, and certainly wouldn't notice if Maria was in school or at the house. Maria was finally free of her father's restrictions, and able to venture where-ever she liked, instead of where-ever she was told to. She could speak to whomever she wished, although she did not know how to great the strangers that wished her 'good-day'. As she went to bed that night, Maria prayed under the starlit sky, that one day, her brothers might feel the same freedom that she could feel her ghostly finger tips gasping.


End file.
